-Soundproof-

[Jonah King]

Been having trouble working out what I’m thinking, and what I’m hearing.

My control keeps slipping.

I think I’ve been having problems for a while. It’s difficult to think. But I have so many other things to worry about. Telepathy is like a full-time job. I have to remember to control it all the time. It’s not automatic. I choose to block or I slip. And I keep slipping. I think I’ve got too much on my mind.

I don’t like writing. I’m not good at it. But I’ve been told it’s a good way to keep track of what my thoughts are. If I write down what I think, I can look back and remember what I thought. If something doesn’t match up, I probably heard it somewhere.

Things I’m thinking about when I should be concentrating:

- Schoolwork
- Graduating
- If I will graduate.
- What I’ll do after I eventually graduate
- My sister and her baby
- Mia.
- Mia's illegal activity.

I think there are more things, but it’s getting jumbled. Everyone inside is angry today.

Too much writing. I’m going outside.

[Jonah King]

Mom and Dad don’t want me to come home for the Easter holiday.

I won’t tell Mia. She’ll just get angry.

[Jonah King]

I should practise more.

But who would I practise on?

Nobody in their right mind would let me into their head.

I know how to block, but I don’t know what else I can do. There have to be more things I can do. I must be able to see memories and dreams, and reach into somebody’s mind and see everything about them. I might be able to do even more than that.

When I went into that security guard’s head, I felt so




Powerful.

I hate that I felt like that. But I did. I felt like I could do anything. I felt like if I told him to do something, he would do it. I felt like I could put a thought into his head, and he would act on it.

I only did it because I had to. But I keep thinking about it. I never used my telepathy for that, before. I never used it on purpose. I’ve always just been trying to stop hearing people, I’ve never been trying to listen in. I’ve just been trying to pretend that I’m not a telepath.

Maybe I should stop pretending.

[Jonah King]

Dear Mom,

I like swimming. I like football. I’m good at sports. I can fix almost anything.

I’m not good at math, but I’m getting better. My teachers say I’m finally catching up with the other people in my year. At this rate, I might even get the grades to do a proper job when I leave school. I want to be a mechanic. Did you know that?

Of course you don’t.

I have spent most of my life trying to get through to you.

I go to a speech therapist every week. When I talk to my friend Robbie I can use whole sentences, and I can say more than I have ever said to you. But Robbie also signs. He cared enough to learn. Mia cared enough to try. I am so much better at talking than I was.

I know what will happen after I finish school and you stop feeling responsible for me. You’ll invite me home less and less. You’ll e-mail less and less. And one day I suppose I’ll just stop coming home, because I’ll never be invited.

I guess I’ll be edited out of the family, slowly, and then one day you’ll just be able to forget about me. People will ask you how many children you have, and you’ll say ‘two’.

You won’t say ‘three’.

[Jonah King]

Hammel's got it wrong - our lives aren't about what we are.

I'm not going to be a FBI telepath.

I'm not going to be a psychiatrist.

I'm not going to be a lip-reader for the Courts, either.

I'm going to fix cars. And you don't need to be deaf or a meta for that.